Arsenal renew interest in sought-after Serie A striker – report

According to a report in the Express, Arsenal have renewed their pursuit of Alvaro Morata after it emerged he won’t join Man Utd if Zlatan Ibrahimovic heads to Old Trafford this summer.

Arsene Wenger is on the look out for another striker after losing Danny Welbeck for nine months with a serious knee injury and Morata was one of several names to be linked over the past few months.

Our interest appeared to fade when reports suggested United were in pole position to sign the 23-year-old and we turned our attention to Leicester City hitman Jamie Vardy.

However, with our pursuit of Vardy stalling after he had second thoughts over whether to join us or remain at Leicester, it looks like Arsene is back on the look out for alternatives.

And the Express claim that we’ve now renewed our interest in Morata after it emerged that the Spanish international will snub a move to United if Ibrahimovic joins the Red Devils.

The Swedish international has been strongly tipped to follow Jose Mourinho to Old Trafford this summer and it seems Morata is concerned about his chances of regular football if Zlatan is also on the books.

The Morata tale is a complicated one as he’s currently on the books at Juventus but Real Madrid are expected to activate a £23m buyback clause and then sell the striker on at a profit.

The La Liga giants price-tag ranges from £35m-£50m depending on which newspaper you believe, so he’s be a much bigger financial investment than Vardy – who’s got a £20m release clause in his contract [source: Express].

I personally have my doubts over both strikers as Morata is far from the finished article and his goal-scoring record is bang average while I have my concerns over whether Vardy would fit in to our system.

However, in the end I still think Vardy is the striker we’ll end up buying. Even if Morata doesn’t join United, there are reportedly a number of other clubs in the running for his signature which will no doubt raise the price to a level beyond what Wenger will be willing to pay.

Speculation suggests Vardy is still mulling over his future but I think he’ll find it difficult to turn down Arsenal. You don’t meet with Wenger, agree personal terms, have a medical and then change your mind, so I think a lot of this ‘stalling’ is just to appease the Leicester fans.